Organically killing the dreaded black fly
Kathy N
Hi, Faye! I, too, am plagued with black fly - my poor Echinops needs help! What I have done that helps to keep the numbers down is to first give them a blast with the hosepipe - not strong enough to damage the plant but with enough pressure to dislodge many of those little varmints. Then, I fill a spray bottle with washing up liquid diluted in water and chopped garlic - I don't have a set amount to dilute it with or a certain amount of garlic, just whatever looks right. Spray that all over the flies - apparently, the taste is horrible and the soap makes it hard from them to penetrate the leaf/bud and to hold on to it. I do have to repeat this at least once a week but I prefer not to use chemical, too. I have read that some organic gardeners apply their used washing up water to do this and it works pretty well. Hope this helps! Please let me know how you get on.
Kathy C
Replied: Thursday 29th of May 2008 08:52 PM
